Help End the Use of Cows and Pigs at the California State Fair Nursery Exhibit

In 2010, a pregnant Holstein cow escaped her pen during the California State Fair. State Fair police chased the frightened animal down in a large SUV. They shot her multiple times, killing her. The cow was part of the Nursery Exhibit, in which heavily pregnant cows, pigs, sheep, and goats give birth in front of an audience.

Since then, animal advocates and concerned citizens have attempted - in vain - to convince the State Fair to eliminate the live birth exhibit at the State Fair. The educational value of the exhibit is questionable, and more importantly, heavily pregnant animals are unnecessarily transported and stressed.

The State Fair Board has adamently opposed any attempts to eliminate the exhibit, despite public pressure.

It is now time to offer the Fair Board a compromise - eliminate the cow and pig live births, while retaining the sheep and goats.

Why just the cows and pigs?

While Animal Place opposes the nursery exhibit in its entirety, it is the cow and pig portions of the exhibit that pose the most danger to both animal and human safety. Both cows and pigs are large animals who are not easily controlled should they escape or react poorly to the unnatural, stressful environment of the fair.

Pigs are confinsed in crates so small they cannot turn around. This added confinement only increases stress and frustration. Calves are removed from their mothers immediately after birth, which is already an enormous stressor. To have that occur in a strange, frightening environment only exacerbates the fear of the cow and calf.